


A Reversal of Responsibilities

by CharlotteML



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: (Not from Takaaki though), Fluffy Ending, Homophobic Language, In Universe Talent Swap, M/M, Snarky Arguments, Takaaki IS a jerk in the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 04:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9583904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlotteML/pseuds/CharlotteML
Summary: As much they they both still love each other after several months of dating, Kiyotaka and Mondo can't help but think that THEY would do a much better job handling the other's responsibilities, and that their clueless boyfriend couldn't possibly understand how difficult THEIR job is! So they decide to swap roles for a while, just long enough to make the other one realise how wrong they are...Much to the annoyance and amusement of one bodyguard and one detective.(Non-despair AU where all the kids live close enough to Hope's Peak to hang out at their own homes at night. Mostly Takemichi and Kyoko's POV, but beginning and ending parts are Mondo and Kiyotaka's POV respectively.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChibiBreeby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiBreeby/gifts).



> So, I offered to write ChibiBreeby a drabble because she drew me some art, and she suggested I do a talent swap, and my brain ran with it so now three days later I'm sat in front of a 12k long fic. Thanks for the idea!  
> For Taka's talent, I was going with the idea that his Morals committee deals with tidying the school as well as hall monitoring and detentions.  
> In my brain there are three Crazy Diamonds members: Mondo, Takemichi and an amorphous collection of about 19 nameless, slightly stupid dudebros.

“Mondo! Mondo _wait!”_ Mondo internally signed and rolled his eyes as Kiyotaka called out from behind him, just as he was about to kick off on his motorbike…

“Uhh… can this wait? I’ve got a gang meeting ta get to…” Mondo pleaded, as his boyfriend came charging towards him.

“What do you _mean,_ you have a gang meeting!? You’re supposed to be on cleaning duty today!” Kiyotaka complained, waving a sheet of paper at him.

“Oh… yeah, _that…”_ Mondo scratched his head, embarrassed. “I kinda forgot… d’ya mind swapping shifts with me, like ya did last week?” 

“ _This is_ the shift I swapped with you last week!” Kiyotaka scowled, “At this point, you’re just asking me to do your work _for_ you! And I have plenty enough to do myself, thank you!”

“Well… the classroom wasn’t _that_ messy… would it matter all that much if I just… _didn’t_ clean it today?” Mondo put on his best charming smile…

“If you fail to do your allocated cleaning shift, then I’ll be forced to give you detention.” Kiyotaka said, sternly.

“Seriously? Ya can’t gimme _one_ free evening?” Mondo scowled.

“No! Believe me, I know how this works! It’s never just _one_ free time!” Kiyotaka shouted dramatically, “First it’s _one_ person who just asks for the odd allowance here-and-there… but then everyone _else_ finds out, and then _they_ all want allowances as well, and soon enough no one _bothers_ anymore and it becomes impossible to make anyone do _anything!”_

“Well… maybe if ya didn’t make _everyone_ clean up everyone _elses_ messes!” Mondo snapped, “I make _way_ less mess than Hifumi or Hiro, so why do I gotta do just as much cleaning as _them!_ Why don’t ya just tell everyone to clean up their _own_ mess!”

“Everyone always underestimates the amounts of mess they make!” Kiyotaka insisted, “And then you get people who just don’t care _how_ messy the room is, so they just leave it all until someone with a conscience relents and tidies it up _for_ them!”

“So give _those_ asshole’s detention!” Mondo suggested, loudly.

“But, unless I have a _structure_ to it then everyone accuses me of picking on people for personal reasons! That’s why I organise the rota!” Kiyotaka cried, “It’s not like you and your _gang,_ where _apparently_ you can just go up to someone and _punch_ them for no reason whatsoever!”

Mondo felt his fist clench… dammit, Kiyo just didn’t _get_ why he’d _done_ that… “I _told_ you, I _know_ that guy, and he was about ta _start_ something!”

“Well, you could have at least _tried_ to settle it reasonably, before ruining our date by…”

“I. T _old._ You! _Talking_ ta that guy woulda ruined the date _more!”_ Mondo snarled, for emphasis, while wishing he could explain exactly _why_ that was the case without it upsetting his boyfriend…

“Well… To be quite honest, I _doubt_ that! I don’t see how _any_ discussion could be _worse_ than resorting to violence!”

“Well, _you’ve_ never been in a gang!” Mondo snapped at him for what felt like the millionth time.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t understand…”

“No! It _does_ mean you don’t understand, alright! You don’t _get_ this shit, so quit trying ta make _suggestions_ about it!”

“Well, _you_ certainly don’t mind making suggestions about _my_ responsibilities!” Kiyotaka exclaimed.

“That’s because how you do your cleaning rota is _bullshit!_ ” Mondo complained…

“You only think that because you’ve never had a _proper_ leadership role!”

_How fucking dare he!?_

“Oh, what!? You think _you’d_ do a better job leading the Diamonds than _me!?”_ Mondo snapped, and started pulling off his jacket, “Alright then… I’ll _show_ you! Give me your armband!” He held out the coat.

“ _What!?”_ Kiyotaka flinched and held his hand over it protectively.

“You think asking people ta tidy up after themselves, and not run in the damn halls, is so fucking _hard?”_ Mondo mocked him, “I can do that stupid shit with one hand behind my back! And while I’m at it _you_ can see the sort of shit _I_ have ta deal with!”

“Very well!” Kiyotaka retorted, starting to unpin his armband… “Maybe I’ll be more _appreciated_ after the resultant anarchy! And your gang could do with a good example of motorcycle safety as well!”

“Hah! You’re assuming you can actually keep _up_ with them!” Mondo snatched the armband and shoved the coat at him… He’d barely even started _learning_ how to ride Mondo’s bike…

“I’ve been practising!” Kiyotaka announced, slipping on the jacket that was just slightly too big for him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and get my helmet… and some better reflectors for you bike!”

“Whatever… _I’ve_ gotta go and chill, cause I _didn’t_ make any mess in class today!” Mondo smirked at Kiyotaka’s brief scowl, as he realised that their little talent swap meant Mondo got to go home scot-free…

This was a great idea… Kiyotaka would probably come _begging_ for forgiveness by midnight… and if _not,_ then Mondo could get rid of this cleaning rota nonsense!

* * *

 

Takemichi pulled his bike into the disused parking lot the Crazy Diamonds were currently holding their gang meetings in, and parked up next to Mondo’s bike…

Which… had an almost-new helmet on the seat… and about half a dozen reflectors on each side of the bike… _the heck?_ The boss hadn’t seriously given that hardass, worrywart boyfriend of his free reign over his _bike,_ had he? Or stopped styling the pomp in order to fit into a helmet to appease the guy, had he?

Man… it was hard enough convincing the gang to stick with Mondo when it got out he was dating a _guy_ , they weren't gonna listen if he started letting the nerd go all health and safety on his ass… In fact, he could already hear cries of ‘ _Hell no!’_ and ‘ _This is fuckin’ bullshit!’_ from the rest of the gang!

He jumped off the bike and headed over to the gang, pushing his way through the guys to see how bad the damage was. Maybe if Mondo still looked pretty cool he could help him convince them that wanting to stay safe wasn’t _that_ big a deal and…

_Oh hell no! This was fucking bullshit!_

“Ishimaru…? What the _fuck_ are you _doing!?”_ Takemichi asked… he’d only ever seen the boss’ boyfriend _once,_ but the guy was unmistakeable- mostly thanks to those red eyes, crazy eyebrows and square-as-hell posture...

However, said posture was currently the only thing that was keeping _Mondo’s_ coat from touching the floor, even _with_ all the extra layers of _school uniform_ the fricken _nerd_ was wearing under it!

“A fair question, although I feel you could have asked more politely.” Ishimaru started by bitching at him for swearing, “However, what I am doing is leading you, from now on!”

 _Oh, he had to be kidding, right?_ Why the hell had Mondo let this travesty happen? Was he sick or something?

Actually… that’d make sense, thinking about it… and would be kinda cute as well…

“Is this ‘cause the boss is sick, or something? And you wanted to help him out?” Takemichi asked, at which point a murmur of understanding rippled through the gang… “’Cause, _usually_ what happens in _that_ case is that _I_ take over from him for a few days…” The gang were all nodding along in agreement behind him.

“Well, that’s good to know, thank you!” Ishimaru nodded primly. “But the reason for the sudden change in leadership is that Mondo and I each felt that the other was doing a poor job of our respective responsibilities, and so we decided to reverse them for the time being!”

“So… Mondo’s doing your hall monitor shtick, and _you’re_ gonna lead the gang?” Takemichi checked he actually understood this dork…

“Exactly!” He smiled, brightly. “Although, _my_ responsibilities also include making sure the school remains clean and…”

So, Mondo and his goofy boyfriend had pissed each other off enough that they decided to switch jobs in order to prove they were _better_ at it than the other… which meant Mondo probably wanted his nerdy boy-toy to realise that running a gang wasn’t all sunshine and roses…

“Okay, No.” Takemichi interrupted his prattling.

“Excuse me? I think I should know what my own responsi…”

“I _mean,_ no, you _ain’t_ just gonna waltz in here and say you’re the new leader just ‘cause Mondo gave ya his _coat!”_ Takemichi corrected him, “I’m challenging you for role of leader!”

He could hear the rest of the gang murmuring in agreement behind him.

“Oh… very well… what’s the process for _that_ then?” He asked, obliviously.

“Well, it starts with me doing _this!”_ Takemichi charged him, pulling his fist back to punch the guy… not too hard, though, Mondo’d probably be _pissed_ if he messed up his boyfriend’s pretty face _too_ much…

…But then, all of a sudden, the nerd twisted sideways and Takemichi was sent stumbling forward by a firm push on his back… fuck! He was lucky to be able keep himself upright after that…

Once he slowed down enough, he stood back up straight and turned to face Ishimaru… who was stood watching him worriedly.

“Err… I’m sorry, was I supposed to stand still for that?” He asked, sheepishly.

“…Is that your idea of trash talk or are you _actually_ asking if ya shoulda stood still and lemme punch ya?”

“I’m legitimately asking.” He said, “And what’s ‘trash talk’, exa…?”

Takemichi face-palmed, geez, this guy really _was_ clueless… “No, ya _weren’t_ supposed ta just stand and take it, what the fuck do you think this _is?_ ” He ran forward, trying to land another punch…

“ _I don’t know!”_ Ishimaru shouted in a panicked voice as he brought his arms up to block the punches… crap… this guy actually know what the fuck he was _doing…_ At least defence-wise, he did. He wasn’t even _trying_ to land a…

_*SMACK*_

...That though was interrupted by a sudden sting across his face that made his vision fuzz for a few seconds…

“Did you just _slap_ me!?” He snapped. Fucking bastard just made a goddamn _fool_ outta him with that!

“But… you were trying to _punch_ me! Was I not allowed to defend myself?” Ishimaru asked, backing away with the beginnings of tears in his eyes…

“I’m not pissed ‘cause ya defended yourself, I’m _pissed_ ‘cause ya fucking _slapped_ me!” Takemichi snapped at him, “What, am I not good enough for you to _punch!?”_

“But… But if I _punched_ you it would _hurt!_ ” Captain Obvious shrieked, “I don’t even know _why_ you’re trying to fight me! W-wouldn’t it be better to _talk_ about this…?”

“Are you for real? We’re _fighting_ to see who gets to be _leader!_ ” Which would be Takemichi, just as soon as this asshole stopped _dodging_ and _blocking_ every fucking one of his punches!

“ _What!?_ But that’s an _appalling_ way of establishing a leadership role! If you did _that,_ you’d just end up with someone who’s good at _fighting_ and _nothing else!_ ” Ishimaru scowled, “Err… although that does explain a _lot…”_

The _fuck_ did he mean by _that?_

“Hey! Mondo’s a fucking _great_ leader!”

“Of course! But if someone less capable of leading, but better at fighting came along and challenged him, you’d have to follow _them!”_

“No… ‘cause we’d back him up in the fight to make sure that didn’t happen!”

“Ah! So there’s a popularity aspect as well?” He seemed happier at that, at least… “So… the fact that no one else is joining in, means they don’t mind which of us two leads?”

“No, they just know I can kick your nerdy ass by _myself!_ ”

Takemichi barely saw his eyes narrow in irritation before he felt a grip on his wrist, then suddenly Ishimaru twisted his body so he was facing away from him and pulled Takemichi forward so he was forced snugly onto the guys back… then suddenly there was a hand behind his neck and Ishimaru was bowing at the waist, taking _him_ with him… and then the world flipped and Takemichi dropped to the ground on his back with a painful thud …

And he was looking up at the upside-down face of Kiyotaka Ishimaru, looking down at him with smug irritation as he asked: “Oh, _can_ you, now?”

Fuck… maybe this guy wasn’t the huge _loser_ he’d _sounded_ like when Mondo had been telling them all why he was dating the guy…

“Ahahaha! How the _fuck_ did you _do_ that?” Takemichi laughed, which seemed to surprise him out of his irritation, especially when he heard the curious mutterings from the rest of the gang.”

“Ah… it’s just a basic throw… I can show you all, if you want?” He offered, holding out a hand to pull Takemichi up…

* * *

 

Kyoko walked into class on Wednesday morning and was instantly concerned… As usual, there was only one classmate, Kiyotaka, who’d arrived before her and was sitting ramrod straight in his chair, diligently reading over some notes with his usual intense expression.

Less usual for the Hall Monitor was his outfit. Instead of…no, _accompanying_ his usual white uniform and knee-high black boots was the long black and gold coat that his _boyfriend_ usually wore.

Kyoko couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread at the idea that Kiyotaka had apparently decided to mimic one of the least reliable members of her class…

“Ah! Good morning, Kyoko!” He noticed her looking at him and greeted her in his usual formal fashion, so at least _that_ was unchanged. “I hope you’re ready to join me in doing our very best as students!”

“Good morning, Kiyotaka.” She responding as usual, ignoring his over-eager cheerfulness at the prospect of the lessons ahead in order to cut straight to the chase. “Why are you wearing Mondo’s coat?”

“Ah… well, Mondo and I had a discussion about the cleaning rota last night and…”

…and Kiyotaka was still disapointed with Mondo for having punched that rival gang member out of nowhere so… “You ended up swapping responsibilities as a result…” She guessed.

“Indeed.” He nodded simply, “I apologise for any inconvenience it causes.”

Hmm… So Mondo would be in charge of detentions, hall monitoring and the cleaning rota… and there was the classroom inspections happening on _Monday…_

“Ah… well, it’ll only be a week.” Kyoko shrugged, walking over to her seat.

Behind her, she could hear Kiyotaka make a small noise of consternation, before apparently deciding not to worry about why she thought their little role-reversal had a specific time limit. He probably thought she agreed with him that Mondo would end up admitting that Kiyotaka’s job was harder than it should be before long… Which was true. The interesting bit would be whether that happened before or _after_ Kiyotaka realised he couldn’t politic his way through leading Mondo’s gang pacifistically…

Gradually the various members of their class arrived, most of them expressing an interest in Kiyotaka’s change of wardrobe and varying levels of disbelief when he told them that Mondo was to be the new class disciplinarian.

And then eventually the man himself arrived. He _almost_ looked as though he’s attempted to dress the part, seeing as he was now wearing his Hope’s Peak’s blazer in lieu of his normal coat, and even had Kiyotaka’s red armband over his arm, although it had slipped down to his wrist.

He, like most others in the class had done, strode straight over to Kiyotaka. Although their conversation went very differently…

“Hey…“ Mondo tried to start the conversation.

“You’re _supposed_ to pin the armband to your blazer!” Kiyotaka interrupted, irritably fixing the armband, “How do you expect to get taken seriously if you can’t even wear the uniform correctly!”

“I’m gonna get taken seriously ‘cause my way of doing things isn’t _bullshit!”_ Mondo hissed back at him, and Kyoko had to resist the urge to sigh loudly enough for him to hear… “What I came ta _say_ was, Imma announce the new way I’m running the cleaning biz…” Mondo paused to smirk at him, “ _Unless_ ya need me ta go back ta running the gang for ya…”

“Why would I need to do that? I had a lovely time with your gang!” Kiyotaka smiled, more genuinely that Kyoko would have expected. “I was teaching them some basic self-defence moves!”

“Ya… ya _were?”_ Mondo cocked his head in surprise, “So… none of ‘em tried ta start anything with you?”

“Well your bodyguard, Yukimaru isn’t it? He tried to challenge me for leadership… of course, you hadn’t told him that I’ve been training with the Ultimate Martial Artist for little over a year now, so that didn’t exactly go well for him…” Kiyotaka explained, blithely. “But I think once I taught them the move I used, they could see what a good example I can be to them!”

…Or they thought Kiyotaka was at least strong enough that they’d give Mondo a pass and give Kiyotaka’s leadership style a chance before rebelling against him…

“Huh… right.” Mondo looked irritated. Had he thought Kiyotaka would lose? “Well… Imma… go up and announce the new rules now…”

“Good luck!” Kiyotaka patted his arm, seemingly under the impression that Mondo needed reassuring.

“ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!” Mondo got everyone’s attention by shouting. “Me and Taka have had a switcharound, so now I’m in charge of all the cleaning and shit…! And whatever you’re about ta say, Togami, ya can _shut it!_ ”

 _“Tch!”_ She could just about hear the heir tutting at the back of the room…

“Ok… so first thing… instead of this ‘rota’ bullshit…” Mondo started, making no indication that he’d noticed the bright, shiny red of his boyfriend’s eyes turning into dark fires of anger… “What we’re gonna do, is we’re all just gonna clean up whatever mess we make, alright? ‘Cause we’re all fucking grown-ups who can clean up after ourselves, right?”

There was a general murmur of agreement around the class, and Kiyotaka’s smile twitched almost unperceptively.

“Well… yeah, I mean, we should be able to manage that!” Makoto naïve agreed, which Kiyotaka seemed to have to stifle a laugh at.

“Hell yeah! And it makes _way_ more sense than having to be available whenever Ishi says!” Leon cheered. As if Ishimaru didn’t ask in advance of making the rota, when people were going to be available to clean…

“I predict this is going to go _great!”_ Hiro agreed.

“Good!” Mondo smirked towards Kiyotaka. “I also reckon this whole ‘no running in the halls’ thing is bullshit, so I ain’t gonna give detentions if I see that shit!”

Kiyotaka’s notes crunched slightly in his hands…

“Huh? Really? Awesome! Now I can exercise more!” Hina cheered.

“Well… so long as you’re careful about it…” Chihiro muttered, dodging around the obvious problem that hadn’t occurred to Mondo…

“Great! Well, that’s all!” Mondo finished, looking happily at the various class members who were naïve enough to be pleased by this turn of events… “Good chat everyone!” He sat back down in his chair, grinning smugly at Kiyotaka as he did so.

Kiyotaka just rolled his eyes in return, he and she could both see Mondo’s new rules weren’t going to last more than a few days…

* * *

 

“Wow… didn’t think _this_ guy was gonna have us doing _this…”_

“Yeah… even the _boss_ never has the balls to do _this_ anymore _…”_

“Be good to piss off some pigs though…”

“Maybe this guy ain’t so bad…”

There was a quiet round of surprised respect for their temporary leader as he lead them to the pleasant park they’d be spending the evening in. It was the sort of place _Daiya_ would sometimes take them, when they all felt like sticking it to the _man_ for once. A nice park, in the middle of a nice neighbourhood, where the cops still gave a shit about looking after the locals. And then _they’d_ turn up, twenty scruffy ‘ne’er-do-wells’ suddenly trucking up on motorbikes and ‘invading’ the local park late evening…

And then they’d all sit and have a picnic, silently _daring_ the cops to start something, and if they _did_ Daiya would just smugly sit and ask what the problem was, officer, because there was nothing illegal about twenty dudes having a picnic, and could he have their badge numbers, please?

“Yes, it’s a nice place, isn’t it?” Ishimaru commented obliviously…

What the gang seemed to have forgot was that Ishimaru _wasn’t_ Daiya… There was no way he understood the undertones of what he was doing, by bringing them here… He’d only suggested this because the gang had all groaned at his original plan to do another fighting lesson for them. (And thank fuck for that ‘cause his back couldn’t have taken another evening getting tossed onto a concrete floor…) Then, he’d had them all drive here nice and carefully, under the speed limit, park up their bikes in a lot nearby and then walked them the rest of the way here, and was now smartly laying out a large blanket for them all to sit on as they got the cheap store-bought food out.

“We can use these bags for the litter!” He announced, opening a few of the carrier bags they’d carried food in up and putting the wrappers from his rice balls in them…

The gang followed suit… littering had become one of Mondo’s pet peeves, once he’d found out how badly it could fuck up the local wildlife, so tidying up after themselves was something the gang had got used to. Of course, the guys sat further away from Ishimaru started making a game of trying to throw their rubbish in the bags, and even moving further away to see who could get their rubbish in from the longest distance…

Which was all good fun, until one of them fucked up a throw so badly that his piece of litter bounced straight off of Ishimaru’s face and onto the floor, leaving a sticky globule of rice on one of his eyebrows… well, so much for a quiet picnic. Ishimaru was bound to react to _that,_ right?

Well, he _did_ react _…_ By absent-mindedly picking up the piece of trash and putting it in the bag… and then carried on tucking into his rice ball, blissfully unaware of the mess on his face…

 _“Snerk…”_ Someone couldn’t contain their laughter...

“Is something funny?” Ishimaru instantly asked him, “What’s the joke?”

_Pretend you thought of something funny, pretend you thought of something funny, pretend you thought of…_

“Uhh… it’s just there’s a bit of rice stuck right on the end of your eyebrow…” The dumbass failed to pick up Takemichi’s mental urging. Oh boy, Ishimaru would probably be _super_ pissed _now…_ And the gang probably knew it as well, given the way they were all looking nervously at him…

“Oh, is there?” Ishimaru reached up and felt all the way along those brows of his, “Ah! There it is! Thank you for mentioning it!” He quickly flicked it off his fingers into the bag and carried on eating as if nothing had happened.

The heck? Someone had _disrespected_ him and he’d not gone off at them? Or even _glared_ at them in warning? Did he think he was too weak to stand up for himself? Or did he just not _care?_

It was probably the second one… but the _rest_ of the gang would think it was the _first,_ and see it as a chance to challenge him, and if they did that _here_ and the cops turned up they really _would_ be in deep shit!

He’d better let the newbie know how things _worked…_ “Yo, Leader business…” He discretely tapped Ishimaru on the shoulder and tilted his head to get him to move someplace quieter…

And then titled his head again when Ishimaru failed to pick up on it the first time. At least _that_ time he got it…

“Ah… what’s the matter? Is there some emergency?” He asked, once they’d finally got far enough away that the gand couldn’t hear them.

“Why didn’t you _do_ anything!?” Takemichi hissed at him.

“Err… when? Was there something I was _supposed_ to be doing? We were all just eating…”

So it _was_ that he just didn’t care… “I mean, why didn’t you tell that guy off for laughing at you?”

“ _What?_ Why _would_ I tell someone off for _laughing?”_ He really didn’t get it at all…

“Because he laughed _at you!_ And _you’re_ supposed to be in charge! _”_  

“ _So?_ That doesn’t mean I’m not going to do things that incite humour in people!” He scowled, “And attempting to punish people for laughing at me sounds downright tyrannical! You’re not saying that’s the sort of thing _Mondo_ does, is it!?”

“Well… no… at least, not so much _these_ days…” Takemichi admitted, “But you’re _new!_ If you don’t keep up the image that you’re a strong leader, people are gonna want to replace you!”

“That’s nonsense! If I can’t convince people to let me stay in charge _without_ such tactics, then I wouldn’t deserve to _be_ in char _… Oh no...”_ He froze mid-lecture, staring ahead of him.

Takemichi turned… Oh for the love of… he was scared of _one cop?_ And it wasn’t even one of the bad ones! Okay so he _looked_ crazy with those intense red eyes of his, but when it actually came to _dealing_ with him, he was a very by-the-books guy, who wouldn’t try to drum up charges just to get them in the clink… Takemichi could talk to this guy _easily!_

“Whatever happens, please don’t say anything!” Ishimaru suddenly ordered, in a hushed voice.

Oh boy… so _he_ wanted to deal with this, did he? Well, it’s be interesting to see how their great new leader dealt with the police… At least he was starting well, bringing his posture up high to intimidate the guy…

“Good Evening, Father!”

_FATHER!? Mondo was dating a COP’S KID!?_

“ _What are you doing!?”_ The officer… his… _dad?_ Hissed back at him, “What do you think people are going to _say_ if they see you hanging about with _gangsters_ in a one of their _uniforms!?”_

 _“_ Youth outreach initiative.” Ishimaru answered, completely deadpan, which made his father’s face twist into disbelief. “I’ve already managed to get them to ride under the speed limit this evening!”

The older Ishimaru took a moment to glare questioningly at Takemichi… “We’re even parked up somewhere _legal!”_ Takemichi added.

“Alright… so you _have_ thought about this _idiocy_ , at least!” The officer conceded, “But what are you _actually_ doing here!?” He asked, suspiciously “I don’t see _Oowada_ anywhere…”

“Ngh…” Ishimaru tutted softly, as if he’d _really_ been hoping not to be asked that… “Well… Mondo and I were discussing how we each handle some of our… respective responsibilities…”

“And did you talk to him about why he punched that boy!?” The father shot out the question suddenly, making his son flinch…

Ha! If he was talking about the punch Takemichi _thought_ he was talking about, then ‘that boy’ woulda probably _knifed_ the guy by talking about him in such a patronising way…

“I… I _told_ you, Mondo had a good reason for that!” Ishimaru countered, although he didn’t sound so sure of himself.

“But you _still_ haven’t found out what it _was…_ ”

“Well… he said I wouldn’t be able to understand, unless I’d led a gang, so… he offered to let me try _this_ for a while, if I gave him the opportunity to… make a few small changes in how I organise the class cleaning duties…” Ishimaru said quickly, with a look of someone who was trying to defuse a bomb without it going off in his face.

“Why would he want to do _that?_ You do a perfectly good job of that!” The officer snapped, “It’s like I keep telling you, he’s a _thug!_ He doesn’t _respect_ you and he certainly doesn’t understand how _hard_ you work to keep everyone organised!”

“He's _not_ a thug! And he does _respect_ me!” Ishimaru snapped back at him, “He just… doesn’t always _agree_ with me!”

The older man just sighed heavily… “Kiyotaka… you know there are _other_ gay men…”

“ _Father_ …” Ishimaru’s tone turned stormy…

“Like that new lad I was telling you about, who joined the force last month…”

“ _NO, Father!”_ Ishimaru snapped, “I’ve _told_ you, I _love_ Mondo!”

“ _WHY!?”_ His father asked, “He’s a _terrible_ match for you!”

“No! No he _isn’t!_ He… he _complements_ me! He… he helps me do things I’d never manage alone!”

“What, like ride a motorcycle?” The officer said derisively…

“Like _make friends!”_ Ishimaru snapped, “And approach of group of people I’ve never met before, introduce myself and _actually be able to talk to them!”_ He gestured over to the gang…

His father just scowled… probably because he was annoyed at the implication that he apparently hadn’t managed to teach his kid _basic social skills?_

“Fine. I can see you’re not going to listen.” He muttered angrily, “Just make sure they tidy up after themselves!” He scowled over at the rest of the gang, who by now were all watching the three of them curiously, turned on his heel and stalked back up the path he’d come from…

“Haahh…” Ishimaru deflated and sadly watched his father leave. “…Please don’t tell Mondo about that.” He suddenly asked, wearily.

“What? That you argued with your Dad? He kinda already knows you do that…” Takemichi pointed out, “I’m kinda surprised neither of you swung for each other there!”

“What? Why would we have _hit_ each other?” Ishimaru asked.

“Well… you both looked pissed off enough…” Takemichi shrugged.

“But… it wouldn’t have solved anything! It would have been tantamount to admitting we’d _lost!”_

Wha…? How was getting the first strike in ‘tantamount to _losing’_? “Uhh… come again?”

“Err… well, I mean… it’s like with the leadership! If I have to resort to _violence_ or scare tactics to prove myself, it just means I’m not clever enough to convince people of my point!” He smiled broadly.

“Uhh… well… I guess that’s one way of looking at it?” It sounded a little like something Daiya used to say… about fighting being a last resort…

“It’s the _only_ way to look at it!” Ishimaru insisted.

“If you say so…” Takemichi sighed, he was as stubborn as Mondo, wasn’t he? “So… why’re you worried about Mondo finding out about your argument just now?”

“Ah, that… You see, I meant… it’s the part where he tried to offer me a _different_ boyfriend…” He scowled, “I… I gave Mondo the impression that the problem Father has with him is that he’s _male…_ not that he’s… _he’s_ …”

“He’s _Mondo Oowada…”_ Takemichi guessed.

“ _Exactly_ …” Ishimaru sighed.

Well… this was fuckin’ _awkward_. Mondo had only punched that asshole who led the Iron Devils because he’d thought Ishimaru would be upset if he suddenly came out with the sort of shit he’d been shouting at Mondo since word got out that he had a _boy_ friend… but now it turned out Ishimaru was probably more worried about Mondo looking like a thug in his dad’s eyes… only he’d just asked Takemichi to keep _that_ quiet as well! This was going to be a fun train wreck to watch…

“I was starting to think he might have started accepting it, but… recently it seems that if he ever finds evidence that things aren’t completely perfect between Mondo and I, he insists on digging into it and trying to convince me to break it off…” Ishimaru carried on, “So I have to constantly downplay my problems and keep up a façade when I’m around him to avoid confrontations…”

“Sounds like _Mondo_ when he’s around the gang…” Takemichi commented. “Always having to look strong, cause if he _doesn’t_ then people take the chance to hurt him… or the rest of us…”

“What!? How unpopular _is_ this gang, that people just randomly _attack_ you?” He cried.

“It ain’t that we’re unpopular! It’s a territory thing! Other gangs are always on the lookout to get more members and more places to hang out, and if they think they can take either from _us_ , they try it!” Takemich explained, “That’s why we don’t wanna look bad, ‘cause it leads to a whole load of trouble for us…”

“But… couldn’t you try to _discuss_ that with them? I mean, putting aside the fact that your ‘territories’ are all _public places…”_ He glared at Takemichi as if it was _him_ who decided how gangs operated… “If there’s a place _they_ want access to, why not offer them one of _your_ places in exchange?”

“Eh… we do that _sometimes…”_ Although, not since Daiya died… “But some gangs don’t wanna share!”

“Why not? There must be _some_ reason! If you _spoke_ to them about it…”

“Ishimaru… some problems can’t be fixed by _talking…”_ He suddenly remembered something Daiya always used to say… “Ya gotta know when to _parlay_ and when ta _punch!”_

 _“Always,_ and _never,_ respectively.” Ishimaru said, snidely.

 _Urrgh!_ No wonder Mondo argued with him so much! Mondo’s idea of being strong was being able to deck assholes before they managed to hurt you… whereas Ishimaru’s idea of strength was being able to talk to people and convince them _not_ to want to hurt you in the first place…

They both wanted the same thing, they just butted heads over how to _get_ it…

“So… _will_ you keep it quiet from Mondo?” Ishimaru asked, as if he’d been planning to get involved in whatever mess they managed to make for themselves…

“Tell ya what… I’ll keep it quiet if _you_ keep it quiet that that guy is your _dad…”_ Takemichi offered.

 _That_ way the gang would think he’d just managed to scare away a cop he’d never _met_ before, and no one would be issuing any challenges _tonight_ …

* * *

 

“Mukuro… pack away those bullets… Hifumi, wash that ink off of your table!”

Mondo was on a bit of a power-trip after classes ended, walking up and down the classroom to make sure that everyone was, as he’d decreed they should yesterday, ‘tidying up after themselves’…

“Sayaka! Good job picking up all that glitter from ya costume there…” He nodded approvingly at the idol, who had had to come into class wearing some ridiculous performance outfit that even _now_ was dropping glitter everywhere, before turning his attention to Chihiro, who had been on a programming binge all day and surrounded his laptop with food wrappers… “…And Chi… Chi…? CHI!”

“ _Huh?”_ Chihiro snapped his attention away from the monitor for a second, “I’ve just got a few more lines of code…”

“Well… make sure ya throw all that shit away when you’re done!” Mondo ordered, to which Chihiro nodded absent-mindedly.

“ _See,_ Kyoudai! Nice and tidy!” Mondo flashed a grin at his boyfriend, who was dusting over the top of his own desk meticulously.

“Hmm… for _now…”_ Ishimaru managed to both agree and disagree in just three words…

“And for _ever!”_ Mondo snapped. “Or until _you_ admit you can’t lead my gang!”

“ _Excuse me!?_ I have been, and _am,_ perfectly capable of leading them!” Kiyotaka exclaimed, “We had a nice picnic in the park near my home last night!”

“You… you had a _picnic?”_ Mondo’s face twisted in confusion, “And they all _went_ with it?”

“Yes! They seemed quite impressed with me, afterwards!” Kiyotaka smiled.

“Oh yeah? Well, just you wait…” Mondo muttered, irritably going back to his chair to sulk with his feet on the table… “Least I’m doing a better job keeping this place _clean_ without pissing everyone off _…”_

Kiyotaka looked wryly at him… either he was mentally echoing Mondo’s instructions to ‘just wait’ or he’d also noticed the signs of dirt building up on Mondo’s table...

“Umm… Mondo?” Sayaka apologetically called for the attention of their new class disciplinarian, “I think I’m dropping glitter faster than I can pick it up… will it be alright if I leave cleaning until _after_ I go to my concert, please?” She looked at him with a sweet, pleading smile.

“Uhh… yeah, that seems fair! I meant, it’s not like you can help it…” Mondo muttered, gruffly.

“Thank you so much, you’re really great!” Sayaka beamed before taking off, which made Mondo blush slightly…

And Kiyotaka scowled at the pair of them… now was _that_ because he was worried that women could apparently still wrap Mondo around their little fingers, or was he just jealous that the idol was giving Mondo the compliment she usually reserved for _Kiyotaka_?

After five minutes, she decided it was probably a mixture of both… and Chihiro stood up from his desk, clutching his head…

“Umm… Mondo? I’ve given myself a headache… can I leave picking up this stuff until tomorrow?” He asked.

“It’d only take ya five minutes…” Mondo pointed out, sounding put out by the request.

“But… you let Sayaka leave…” Chihiro grimaced and clutched his head, “And I’ll clean it as soon as I get to class tomorrow!”

“Uhh… I mean… Okay, I guess?” Mondo agreed, anxiously worrying about his friend’s health… “Make sure ya rest up, alright?”

“Thanks Mondo!” Chihrio smiled.

“And so it begins…” Kiyotaka smirked quietly to himself.

* * *

 

“Oh… _This_ sort of club…” Was their new boss’ reaction to the loud, dimly lit nightclub they’d (slowly, by their standards) led him to.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a shithole, but I hear there are some really cure chicks at this place!” Someone in the gang exclaimed eagerly.

“Err… right then!” He exclaimed loudly, before muttering to Takemichi. “I don’t suppose they're talking about _animals?_ ”

Hah! A man he could sympathise with! “’Fraid not, boss…” He quietly smirked back as they walked into the club…

Several rounds later, the mood amongst the group was high, even despite Ishimaru’s insistence that they either _not_ drink, or agree to ride on the backseat someone who _hadn't._ It turned out that the disciplinarian wasn’t half as bad a guy to take clubbing as Takemichi had expected. While he obviously didn’t approve of… well, _anything,_ he was keeping his opinions to himself, and spent most of the evening either writing down everyone’s drinks orders or pointing out interesting bits of jewellery or clothing various women were wearing, which turned out to be good stuff for the guys to complement chicks on…

“Man, this is like when we used to go out with Daiya!” One of the gang slurred slightly while Ishimaru had got up to order drinks for everyone (once he’d apologetically asked for money to pay for them.), “Uhh… well, mostly…” He added, as Ishimaru briefly dived under an empty table to pick up some litter or something, before going up to the bar and patiently waiting next to some chick who was frantically talking to the bartender.

“Yeah… It's good ta get more than two rounds in before Mondo starts yelling at some chick…” Another member said… and several more _laughed!_

 _The hell!?_ Were they laughing at _Mondo!?_ What, they thought the gang being led by a fricken _nerd_ was better than Mondo occasionally causing a scene!?

“…Well, now Mondo’s _getting some_ he ain’t gonna _do_ that anymore!” Takemichi pointed out, curtly.

“But… he’s still gonna want a _girl,_ ain’t he?” Someone asked.

“What? Why the fuck would you think he wants a girl _as_ _well as_ Ishimaru?” That… that wasn’t how being bi actually _worked_ , was it? Even assuming Mondo _was_ bi and not just gay…

“Well… Ishimaru seems to want one! He’s chatting one up now!”

Takemichi’s head snapped around to see if that was true… and it’d better fuckin’ _not_ be!

…The fuck? He’d started talking to that frantic chick next to him, and now both of them were all smiles and laughter… and she seemed to be really thankful for something…

“Uhh… shit, _guys,_ she’s wearing a _chain…”_ One of the soberer members pointed out, anxiously…

It took him a moment to spot it, but the guy was right… wrapped around the chick's left wrist was one of those cheap, thin chains the Iron Devils always gave to their girls…

“ _Shit…_ I didn’t think he’d be chatting up anyone…” Takemichi muttered… after all he’d only just said he _loved_ Mondo _last night!_ He shouldn’t have _needed_ those codes explained to him!

But there he was, still laughing blithely even as the Iron Devil’s leader and his big, skin-headed lunk of a bodyguard came out of the toilets and instantly made their way towards him…

It was the bodyguard who got to them first and put his arm around the girl’s shoulders possessively and got in Ishimaru’s face for talking to her. But rather than recoil like most guys would have, Ishimaru just calmly pointed out something on her _right_ wrist… and _she_ was trying to hold the guy back and holding her hand up to show him one of those fancy charm bracelets chicks seemed to be digging at the moment... and then Ishimaru was pointing to that table he’d dived under…

…He’d not been chatting her up, he’d just overheard her freaking out over losing her bracelet and had returned it...

Not that the bodyguard seemed particularly mollified… he still looked like he wanted to deck Ishimaru just for taking away the chance for _him_ to return her thing to her… at least he did until _his_ boss caught up with him made some comment with a shit-eating grin on his face, which the pair of them laughed at, to Ishimaru’s confusion… he looked like he couldn’t exactly hear what was going on over the loud music…

But he _did_ seem to recognise the leader of the Devil's and bowed his head politely… was he apologising for Mondo? _Urg…_ That wasn’t good… and neither was the way the guy smirked and pulled at Mondo’s jacket, which caused Ishimaru to gesture to himself and the rest of the gang…

Well, _crap!_ Looks like the Devils knew about their little change in leadership now… And from the way they grinned at each other and patronisingly waved goodbye to the oblivious hall monitor, they saw it as a _weakness…_

* * *

 

Kyoko walked into the classroom, occupied solely by Kiyotaka, as usual for the mornings…

What was slightly _un_ usual was that he was sat slumped slightly forwards with his eyes shut… It would seem that too many late nights of trying to study _and_ lead a gang were stating to catch up with him… Something that Mondo obviously noticed as soon as he entered the room…

“Uhh… Kyoudai?” Mondo tried to gently coax him awake, whereas everyone else who’d entered before him had decided to let him sleep…

“GOOD MORNING, SENSEI!” Kiyotaka jerked awake and instantly stood up to do the morning class greeting…

“The teacher’s not here yet, Taka.” Makoto assured him.

“Yeah, It’s just me…” Mondo sighed at him, “You havin’ trouble with the gang?”

“No! I’m… just having difficulty adjusting to the schedule!” Kiyotaka downplayed his problem, “In fact, I spoke to that fellow you punched.”

“Ya _did!?_ What’d he _do!?”_ Mondo panicked, looking Kiyotaka up and down for evidence of injuries.

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know he wasn’t _too_ upset about the punch… he just laughed it off when I apologised for you!”

“You… you _apologised…”_ Mondo grimaced.

“Yes! Of _course_ I apologised!” Kiyotaka snapped at him, “He seemed like a perfectly reasonable fellow!”

“You thought…? He… he didn’t _say_ anything to you?” Mondo looked gobsmacked.

“Well… I couldn’t hear very well in the club we were at…” Kiyotaka admitted, “Although he did wish me luck leading your gang!” He added, with a smile.

“So he _knows_ …” Mondo looked visibly pale, “We need ta switch back.” He announced, quickly.

“Oh!? You’ve finally realised your new rules aren’t working!” Kiyotaka laughed.

“What? No, my rules are working out fine!” Mondo claimed.

“Really? Because I’m seeing _two_ tables that are covered in mess this morning…” Kiyotaka looked over at Sayaka’s and Chihiro’s desks.

“That’s just gonna be until they turn up and clean ‘em this morning!” Mondo insisted.

“You _do_ realise Sayaka’s concert is _tonight,_ don’t you? _She’s_ not back until _Monday…”_ Kiyotaka looked like he was having trouble to resist smirking as he announced the news.

“Well… okay, so one desk’ll have some glitter on it for a day…” Mondo muttered with a scowl, “Chi’s gonna be here soon ta tidy _his_ shit up, at least!”

“Ah… Mondo… About that…” Sakura entered the classroom at just the right time to apologetically interrupt him… “Chihiro will not be attending class today, nor will Hina or Leon.”

“What!? Why the fuck _not!?”_ Mondo snapped.

“Ah… My understanding is that Hina and Leon were playing some sort of game that involved running at high speeds in the hallway, and they both crashed into Chihiro…”

“Wha…? Why the _fuck_ were they playing _games_ in the _hallway?”_ Mondo snarled…

“Because _somebody_ let them!” Kiyotaka couldn’t resist the urge to rub Mondo’s face in it… “And _now_ there’s been consequences to your anarchist approach to discipline!”

“Oh don’t gimme that crap!” Mondo snapped,” I’ll show you! Just ‘cause one or two dumbasses messed up, doesn’t mean we can’t have nice things!”

“Good! That way _I_ can carry on being a good leader to _my_ gang!” Kiyotaka smirked and turned to the pile of notes he had out on the table…

Mondo sat down at his _own_ desk, apparently irritated enough that he’d forgot about Kiyotaka’s interaction with someone he’d thought had been worth _punching_ last week…

* * *

 

Takemichi’s phone was ringing _again…_ And he could _bet_ he knew what it was going to be about…

“Yo, Michi here…”

“Hey… uhh… I’m not gonna be at tonight’s meet up… some assholes from the Iron Devils jumped me… they said to meet…”

Yup! Got it in one! Yet another member down for the count…

“Yeah, I know, it wasn’t just _you_ … seems like we’re getting targeted…” Takemichi sighed.

“Why? What did we _do?”_ He couldn’t _guess?_

“We changed _leaders,_ that’s what we did!” Takemichi told him.

“Huh…? Hah! Right, yeah! Guess _they_ dunno what they’re dealing with!” He laughed, “Ishimaru’ll sort those shitheads right out, right?”

“Ehh… well, we’ve always got Mondo as well…” Takemichi muttered.

“Yeah… but we won’t need _him,_ right?” The guy laughed… like Mondo was some kinda stupid _joke_ now…

Honestly, Takemichi would have rather have gone straight to Mondo about this… there was no way Ishimaru was gonna be able to deal with the Devils… not with his ‘fighting is a sign of weakness’ attitude!

But, the rest of the gang seemed to think he was the second coming of _Daiya…_ So if he didn’t at least give the guy a _chance_ at it before calling in Mondo, it’d look bad for _both_ of them. He’d just have to make sure he did his bodyguard shtick right and didn’t let Ishimaru get _hit_ by that asshole…

* * *

 

“Alright, which asshole made _this_ mess!” Mondo yelled at the whole class, or at least, those still present, just as their afternoon classes were due to start…

He was pointing the top of one of the bookshelves lining the back of the classroom, where ‘Clean Me’ had been written in the thin layer of dust that had built up there over the last few days of neglect.

“Uhh… well, I was the one who wrote it…” Makoto admitted, sheepishly.

“Then you can fucking _tidy_ it!” Mondo ordered, pointing to it dramatically.

Makoto nervously complied, despite not exactly having _caused_ the build up of dust, not by himself anyway, and began trying to brush the dust off of the shelf with the sleeve of his hoodie, most of which just flew around and settled elsewhere.

Unfortunately, some of the cloud flew over to the desk that Toko was sat at…

“Urg! Watch what you’re… Ahh… ah… AHCOOO!” She _sneezed_.

“Oh, for goodness _sake_ …” Byakuya muttered irritably.

“Whawhawhat!? Where _am_ I!?” Genocider took a moment to orientate herself to her surroundings, before spotting Byakuya was in the room. “AH! _Master!_ ” She cooed, heading towards him.

“That _does_ it! It’s bad enough sitting in all this _dust,_ I am _not_ going to get covered in _drool_ as well!” Byakuya griped, picking up all his books and vacating the room, with his stalker not far behind.

“Goddamnit Makoto, why’d you make all this fuckin’ dust anyway!” Mondo growled at the hapless luckster…

“Wha…!? I didn’t _make_ the dust, I just _wrote_ in it!” Makoto cried in his own defence, “It’s _dust!_ It just _happens!”_

“But… we never had _this_ much before!” Mondo exclaimed.

“Well, _usually,_ whoever was on class cleaning duty would dust over the shelves and mop the floors…” Celestia pointed out.

“ _Nurgh…”_ Mondo flinched as he realised the flaw with his new cleaning rules… While at the front of the classroom, Kiyotaka was sitting with a smug look on his face. “Well… alright, so… I’ll, uhh… I’ll think of some way ta keep the dust under control, and we’ll start doing that on Monday…” He chose to procrastinate on the problem, and sat scowling all the way through the afternoon’s lessons, and even after the bell signalling the end of day rang. Probably failing to come up with any ideas that weren’t tantamount to organising the very same rota that had been his reason for doubting his boyfriend in the first place.

“Well… I hope you managed to figure out how it’s best to keep the dust under control over the weekend!” Kiyotaka patted Mondo on the arm as he went to leave the room… “ _I_ have a _gang_ _meeting_ to get to!”

“Yeah… right…” Mondo muttered absent-mindedly, which left Kiyotaka looking disappointed as he left the room. Perhaps he’d thought that would be the moment where Mondo admitted that Kiyotaka _had_ been organising the cleaning duties in the best way possible, but the biker was far too stubborn for that…

However, as she’d been expecting when Kiyotaka had first told her about this stupid switch of theirs, her own father soon came in with just the piece of news that would finally bring one half of this annoying argument of theirs to a close…

“Oowada? Ishimaru tells me _your_ in charge of the cleaning duties for your class at the moment, is that true?” Her father approached Mondo’s desk while he was still thinking.

“Uhh… Yeah! Yeah, that’s right!” Mondo jumped to attention and looked up at him.

“Well… I just wanted to warn you that we’re going to be having some inspections of the school on Monday morning, so it’s _very_ important that all the classrooms be clean!” He started, “Now, usually, for _your_ class, that wouldn’t be a problem but…” He looked around the room with a disappointed glare…

“Uhh… don’t worry, sir! It’ll be clean by Monday!” Mondo actually _grovelled_ under his hardened gaze, “Man’s promise!”

“Good!” Her father said, seriously. “I wouldn’t have wanted to have to punish my own _daughter's_ class! Haha!” He laughed, and then left the room.

“Uhh… okay then! I... uhh… I know there’s only half of us…” Mondo had the decency to look abashed as he looked at the few of them left in the room, “But if we all pitch in…”

“My apologies, Mondo, but I promised Hina, Chihiro and Leon I’d take notes from our classes to the hospital for them…” Sakura sighed as she finished packing up her belongings, “And their visiting hours are quite short.”

“Uhh… well, yeah I guess that’s fair…” Mondo muttered, as if Sakura wouldn’t have just walked past him and left the room regardless. “Okay… so it’s slightly _less_ than half of us, but…!”

“Like, no _way_ am I getting stuck cleaning up this filthy room on a Friday night!” Junko complained, “ _You’re_ the one who said it’d be tidy by Monday, why don’t _you_ do it?” She elft the room, followed by her sister. Who looked back at them all apologetically…”

“Because I can’t do all this shit by _myself!”_ Mondo cried after her, to no avail, “And if we _don’t_ do it we’re _all_ screwed!”

“Hmm… I’d be willing to bet that, as the person in charge, _you’d_ be the one taking the brunt of the headmaster punishment!” Celestia smirked, “And _I_ certainly don’t intend to spend a good portion of my time acting as scullery maid if no one _else_ is! Now come on, Hifumi, I’d like some _tea…”_

“Yes, mistress!” Hifumi looked positively glad to have an excuse to get out of cleaning.

“Fucking bunch of assholes…” Mondo muttered, “Okay… so it’s just the _four_ of us left to clean this shit up…”

“Ahh… don’t worry about it!” Yasuhiro suddenly exclaimed, “I just had a prediction! It’ll be fine the way it is!”

What!? No it _won’t!_ It looks like a fucking _trash heap_ in here!” Mondo snapped at him.

“Trust me! I’m always right! Have a good weekend, guys!” Yasuhiro smiled and waved as he left the room…

“Yeah, but only one in three times!” Mondo cried out after him, then bashed his pompadour against the door frame when he realised the fortune teller wasn’t coming back. “Well… _you_ two will help me out, right!?” Mondo turned back to plead with her and Makoto…

“I _thought_ we were supposed to be cleaning up our _own_ messes?” She shrugged, and started to drag Makoto out of the room before he inevitably offered to help. “And it seems to _me_ that you’ve made _this_ one all by _yourself_ …”

“Hey, Kyoko… Don’t you think that’s kinda _harsh?”_ Makoto asked her, as she carried on pulling him down the corridors.

“I’m sure Kiyotaka would have _told_ him _several times_ why he organised the rota the way he did!” Kyoko said, loudly enough for Mondo to hear her… “It’s his _own_ fault for not listening!”

Makoto looked like he was going to argue, so she put a finger over his lips… “And besides, it’d be better for all of _us_ if they _both_ realise they’re wrong at the _same time_ …” She murmured in his ear, just as Mondo swore and, from the sound of it, started frantically typing something out on his phone…

“But… what makes you think Taka’s going to…?”

Kyoko sighed, “Makoto… you don’t _really_ think Mondo punched a ‘perfectly reasonable fellow’ in the _face_ for _no reason whatsoever,_ do you?”

* * *

 

“So… do you have any idea why this gang is attacking ours?” Ishimaru asked him as what was left of the gang made their way to the place the Iron Devils had called them to… it _should_ be enough of them, but having _Mondo_ around woulda been nice… If _he’d_ been there then Takemichi woulda known they’d all be going home mostly uninjured. But with Ishimaru, it was a toss-up, depending on whether he’d actually _use_ those martial arts skills of his…

“’Cause they’re assholes!” Someone in the gang suggested, to which Ishimaru just scowled. Oh boy… with them saying shit like that, he’d probably thought they were only attacking ‘cause the Diamonds were being rude, and then he’d be all the more determined to _talk_ ‘em outta it…

He certainly decided to _start_ the meeting in a polite fashion, once they’d arrived and sized up the fifteen or so Iron Devils gathered in the alleyway…

“Good Evening!” Ishimaru nodded, at least he didn’t fuckin’ _salute..._

“Hah!” The leader of the Iron Devils just laughed at him, great start! “I’m surprised you had the _balls_ to show up!”

“Well… I’d like to know why you keep attacking the members of my gang!” Ishimaru replied.

“Ain’t it obvious?” Their leader smirked at him.

“I assume it’s retaliation for Mondo’s actions towards you last week!” Ishimaru guessed, wrongly, and then bowed deeply at the waist. “Which, as I tried to tell you last night, he is _deeply_ apolo…”

“Ahahaah! Like I _told_ you last night, I don’t give a shit about the _tickling_ your fairy-queen gave me!” He laughed, even though he _still_ had the last remnants of the bruise Mondo gave him, “And what’s with this bending over crap? You hoping I’ll _fuck_ you, you little _faggot?”_

Ishimaru’s body shot straight back up to his usual militaristic posture, which highlighted the fact that he was actually _taller_ that the guy who’d just had the nerve to call him _little…_ “No! I was merely extending basic courtesy!” Ishimaru snapped in response, “And that is _quite_ an offensive word, which you should avoid…”

“Why the fuck _should_ I care if I piss off a bunch of sick freaks like _you!?_ ” The iron devil growled.

“There… there’s nothing _sick_ about a healthy relationship between consenting adults!” Ishimaru hesitated slightly before responding.

“That shit isn’t natural!” Their leader scowled, starting to stalk towards Ishimaru…

Takemichi tensed, he was probably going to have to rush forward once the guy started throwing a punch, in case Ishimaru didn’t spot it coming…

“Actually, there are plenty of cases where homosexual behaviour _is_ natural!” Ishimaru countered as if he was in a reasonable debate, not the trash-talk before a street fight. “For instance, did you know that 10% of rams prefer to mount _other_ ra…”

“So, you’re saying you’re just a filthy _animal!?”_ He smirked, clenching his fist…

Soon… not yet, but _soon…_

“What!? No! You said it was unnatural, so I just provided evidence that it’s _not!”_ Ishimaru scowled, “I was in no way comparing myself to an animal!”

“Hah! Well, you _should!_ The stuff you faggots get up to is _gross!”_ He used his clenched fist to gesture… which put it in a good position for him to then _swing_ when he wanted to…

“Wha… tha… it…” Ishimaru stammered, eyes starting to well up with tears, certainly _not_ ready to defend himself… “No it’s _not!”_ He cried, sounding slightly pathetic…

“Yes…” Takemichi saw the other leader’s arm shift…

“It…” Takemichi moved to charge him…

“IS!” Takemichi’s shoulders felt like they were gonna be dislocated as some _mother fucking idiots grabbed him from behind!_

“Dude! He’s _got_ this!” One of their own gang scolded him… just before the punch connected and Ishimaru fell to the floor…

“Hah! Ahaha! _What was that!?”_ The Iron leader laughed manically as he stood over Ishimaru’s body… “You though this pansy-ass _faggot_ was gonna take _me!?”_ He looked over at them all, sheepishly letting go of their own fuckin’ _bodyguard_ as they realised what a bunch of _idiots_ they’d been… “You _did!_ AHAHAHA! _WHY!?_ Did he beat _you_ guys? Are the Diamonds so fucking _weak_ they got their asses fucked by one little gay _prick!?_ How’d he manage _that!?”_

“Like _this!”_ Takemichi took the opportunity to move, running over to the homophobic asshole and throwing him to the floor the way Ishimaru had shown them all…

That started a confused mess of a fight, which they just about managed to win, although Takemichi knew he was going to have trouble moving his… well, his _everything_ come tomorrow...

“Is everyone…” finishing that sentence with ‘alright’ would be stupid, really… “Is everyone not dead?”

“…Ishimaru ain’t moved since that guy punched him…” One of the gang pointed out.

 _Shit…_ Takemichi ran over to him… he didn’t _look_ too fucked up, aside from the bruise forming on his eye…

“What the fuck _happened_ to him?” Someone was asking, “ _Daiya_ woulda…”

“ _He’s not Daiya,_ you _dumbasses!”_ Takemichi snapped.

“But… he _talks_ like Daiya and he knows how to fight…”

“That doesn’t make him Daiya! Daiya didn’t just know _how_ ta fight! He knew _when_ ta fight!” Takemichi snapped. “But Ishimaru thinks fighting is just something dumbasses resort to when they can’t _talk_ their way outta problems! He was expecting an _argument_ with those guys _,_ not a _fight!_ ”

There was some awkward murmurs and shuffling about as they finally realised Ishimaru wasn’t the awesome leader they’d thought he was… “…But… doesn’t the boss keep saying he’s gonna be in charge of everything one day?” Someone asked.

“Yeah… as a _politician,_ not a _gangster!”_ Takemichi sighed, “Mondo only let him be in charge ‘cause he _knew_ summat like _this_ would knock some _sense_ into him and he’d quit acting like the only reason Mondo ever throws a _punch_ is ‘cause he’s a fucking _dumbass!_ ”

“Nggh… You… you _knew_ I’d fail?” Ishimura’s voice drifted up weakly from the pavement, as he tried to get up.

“Well… I didn’t know for _sure…”_ Takemichi admitted, as he helped the poor guy sit up straight. “But I figured something like this might happen…”

“I… I’m sorry… I… I just didn’t know what to _say_ …” Ishimaru stammered. Geez, punched in the face and he _still_ didn’t understand it! “I mean… I _thought_ I responded to all of his concerns… but he still…”

“He was never gonna _listen_ to ya!” Takemichi sighed, “He was just saying shit he figured would upset you!”

“But then… what could I have _said_ to stop him?”

“There wasn’t anything you _could_ have said, not in _that_ situation!” Takemichi sighed.

“So… should we not have come here?” Ishimaru was getting the wrong idea entirely, “Should I have tried… writing him a note or something?”

“No… he’d have just ignored it and kept sending his guys to jump ours…”

“But then, what _should_ I have done!” Ishimaru cried, “How would _Mondo_ have dealt with him?”

“You saw that last week!” Takemichi reminded him… “Hurt _him_ before he hurts _others…”_

“But…! There must be a better way to deal with it that _that!”_ Ishimaru insisted, “All _that_ did was to convince him to prey on targets he thought were _weaker!_ ”

“And _that’s_ why we make gangs! We hang out in big-ass groups so we _don’t_ look weak! And if anyone fucks with one of us, we send twice as many people back to fuck with them! So then they think _twice_ before trying to hit any of us!”

“Well, that’s all very well for you gang, but it doesn’t help anyone else!” Ishimaru snapped.

“ _I_ _know that!_ ” Takemichi snapped back at him, “But I dunno what else _to_ do! It’s not like it’s possible to change how people _act!”_

“Well… it _is…_ it’s difficult, but it _is_ doable…” Ishimaru considered it… “People emulate roles models, so he’s learnt that behaviour from _somewhere!_ If there were _better_ examples for him to learn from…”

“But there _aren’t…_ At least, not one’s _he’ll_ listen to…”

“I suppose… but society still changes, overall!” Ishimaru said, cheerfully. “Just think, fifty years ago I could have been _arrested_ for dating Mondo! And as more and more good role models appear, more of the population will become more understanding…”

“But that doesn’t help you deal with _that_ guy, who wanted to _hurt you,_ right _now…”_ Takemichi sighed, “There’s a time to try and talk out your problems… but then there’s a time when you’ve got no choice but to fight to protect yourself, and your friends… Like Mondo did last week on your _date_.”

“The date…?” Ishimaru looked confused, “You mean, Mondo knew his views on homosexuality!?”

“Well, yeah! That asshole’s been yelling shit like that at Mondo for _months!”_ Takemichi decided to come clean, hopefully the boss wouldn’t mind… “The boss has _tried_ talking it out with him, but _that_ usually ended with him swinging at Mondo, which is _fine_ when it was just him taking it… but with _you_ there…”

“Mondo was worried I’d get hurt… and he knew he wouldn’t listen to reason.” Ishimaru sighed, “It was _him_ who was right… leading a gang is _far_ harder than maintaining order at school… Compared to this, _my_ responsibilities are _far_ easier…”

“So… you and Mondo are gonna swap back now?” Takemichi asked.

“Yes… Could you tell me the easiest route to drive to his house, please?” Ishimaru asked, shakily standing up.

“Ehh… tell ya what, why don’t _I_ drive ya…” He offered, because in _that_ state, Ishimaru would probably fuck up and have an accident, and that was one similarity to Daiya they could all do _without!_ “I’ll just give Mondo a text to let him know we’re coming…” He pulled out his phone…

_’23 new messages.’_

What the hell…!?

* * *

 

Kiyotaka awkwardly clambered off of Yukimaru’s bike, partly because all this unfamiliar bike riding was starting to make his back and legs sore, and partly due to still feeling shaken from the fight… and the realisation that he’d been _wrong_ all this time… and so rude to Mondo as well!

It wasn’t until he’d dismounted and looked ahead of him that he realised that Yukimaru hadn’t taken him to Mondo’s house, but instead…

“The _school?”_ Kiyotaka questioned him, “Why’s Mondo still in _school_ on a _Friday evening?”_

“I dunno… something to do with ‘being wrong and an idiot and in desperate need of help…” Yukimaru smirked at something on his phone.

 _Mondo_ was wrong? But… _his_ job wasn’t that difficult! Their class was far more reasonable than the people _Mondo_ had to deal with… And even with only the eight of them, they should have been perfectly capable of cleaning the classroom by now! What could possibly have _happened?_

His question was answered when he got to their classroom, to find that the single, solitary person there was his…

“Kyoudai? Why are you by _yourself?”_

“ _Huh!?”_ Mondo looked up from Hifumi’s desk, where he was fruitlessly attempting to clean the artist’s ink stains with plain water… “ _Taka!_ Thank  _gods_ you came _back!”_ He stood up from the table and ran towards Kiyotaka, who gladly reached out his arms to give his desperate looking Kyoudai a hug…

That wasn’t received, becasue Mondo dropped to his knees in front of him instead.

“Taka! _You’ve gotta help me!”_ Mondo begged, grabbing and the lower parts of his coat, _“_ There’s an inspection on Monday and if this place isn’t clean we all get in _trouble_ but it’s just like you said, ‘cause I gave, like, _two_ people a free pass but then they all stopped giving a shit and now _everyone’s_ fucked off and left me by _myself_ and I _know_ shoulda _listened_ to ya about the rules in the first place and it’s my own fault I fucked everythin’ up and I’m _so fuckin’ sorry_ but I gave Kirigiri a _man’s promise_ that I’d have this place clean by Monday but I can’t even get one fuckin _desk_ clean and I need your help, _please!”_

“Ah…” Kiyotaka looked around the room… it didn’t look _that_ insurmountable. It would probably be a couple of hours work to tidy it at best, and then he’d have to make a speech about reinstating the class cleaning rota on Monday, and tell everyone he would go back to giving detentions for running in the halls, which would go down poorly at first, but with enough time and patience it would all eventually be accepted...

…But Mondo was acting as if the world was ending…

This reversal of responsibilities had been a truly _stupid_ idea on _both_ their parts…

“I’ll help you on one condition.” He told Mondo, as he started to take off his Kyoudai’s coat…

“ _Anything!”_ Mondo promised, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

“Please, forgive me for doubting you…” He asked, looking at the coat in his outstretched hand, rather than have to look Mondo in the eyes. “You were right. I really didn’t understand what you have to deal with…”

“Wha…? But you were getting on _great_ with the gang! Why’re you…?” Mondo paused as he gingerly took the coat from his hands, before suddenly standing up and looking closely at him… “What the fuck happen to your _eye?”_

“Ah… Well, I discovered that fellow from last week wasn’t quite as reasonable as I’d _thought_...” He admitted, looking at the floor and waiting for Mondo to laugh at him and say that he was right all along and…

“…And what the fuck were _you_ doing when this happened!?” Mondo snapped…

“W-well… I…”

“A bunch of the gang held me _back…”_ Yukimaru answered, which prompted Kiyotaka to risk looking up at Mondo, to find that his boyfriend was angrily glaring at his _bodyguard,_ not _Kiyotaka…_

“Whaddaya _mean_ they ‘held ya _back’!?”_ Mondo snarled, “Why the _fuck_ would they _do_ that!? What, did Taka piss ‘em off so much they wanted ta see him get _hurt!?_ I swear ta _god_ Imma…”

“No! No, Boss, it wasn’t like _that!”_ Yukimure quickly explained, “They… they thought he was gonna do his martial arts shit on the guy!”

“ _What!?_ Taka wouldn’t hurt a _fly!_ Why the _fuck_ did they think he was gonna kick someone’s ass?” Mondo asked, “Why the hell did you even let him anywhere _near_ that guy!?”

“’Cause _you_ put him _charge!”_ Yukimaru snapped, “What the fuck were _you_ thinking, telling a guy who won’t fight unless it’s in self-defence to lead a _gang!?”_

“I thought you’d all get pissed off with him and challenge him for leadership, and then he’d come back and apologise for saying I’m not a _real_ leader!” Mondo explained, angrily.

But… had that comment upset Mondo that much? Kiyotaka hadn’t even really _meant_ it… “I… I’m sorry I said that…Mondo” He admitted, “I only said it out of pettiness… because your comment about my cleaning rota upset me…”

“ _Really!?”_ Mondo pulled a face… which was fair… on the surface of it, it sounded like an incredibly trivial thing to be upset about. But there was no way Kiyotaka was going to explain the _real_ reason it upset him to Mon…

“You mean, ‘cause of what your old man said about Mondo being a thug and not being able to respect or understand you?” Yukimaru asked, innocently…

“Ngh! I… you said you wouldn’t talk about that!” Kiyotaka wheeled around and reminded him, out of sheer frustration that now there was a chance that Mondo was going to figure out the problem…

“No… you _specifically_ asked me not to talk about a _different_ part of that conversation…” Yukimaru smirked.

 _Darnit!_ The shrew, spiky haired brat was _right!_ And not only that, now Mondo was probably going to ask…

“So, what _else_ happened with your old man that you’re hiding from me!?”

“Ah… it’s not important!” Kiyotaka tried to assure Mondo.

“I dunno… kind seemed important to _me…”_ Yukimaru contradicted him.

“ _Kyoudai…”_ Mondo scowled.

“Ah…it’s... it’s…” His mind came up with no viable ways to convince Mondo to let him drop this particular subject… “Father has been… offering to introduce me to a gay man he works with.” He admitted.

“ _Huh!?_ But… I thought he was pissed with you _because_ you’re gay!” Mondo was understandably confused.

“Well, he… isn’t still isn’t exactly _pleased_ about that…” Kiyotaka told him, “But… it’s your… _reputation_ he’s most concerned with. I think he thinks that if I _must_ insist on dating a man, he’d rather it be one who seems ‘ _respectable’_ …”

“Taka…” Mondo’s face softened and he reached out a hand to gently pull into a hug…

“Ah…” Kiyotaka sighed softly as he relaxed against Mondo’s chest and felt his boyfriend’s arms around him… he hadn’t realised how much he’d missed this, throughout their arguments… how nice it was to be able to relax, knowing Mondo would be there to keep him safe and support him…

“Why didn’t cha just _tell_ me?” Mondo scolded him softly, “I coulda changed…no I _can_ change how I look, or get a… a _car_ or summat or… or quit the…”

“ _Don’t you DARE!”_ Kiyotaka ordered him, sharply enough that he felt Mondo’s grip around him tighten in surprise… “ _That’s_ why I didn’t tell you about it! Because I knew you’d want to do something selfless and _stupid_ like _that!”_

“But… it’d make things easier for you, wouldn’t it?” Mondo asked.

“Perhaps… But your look and your bike and your _gang_ is a big part of _you_ … and I… I _love_ you!” Kiyotaka blushed… that probably sounded so sappy, especially in front of Yukimaru… “So… I don’t want you to change who you are, just to make _my_ life easier!”

“…Really?” Mondo blushed as well, looking as though he didn’t quite dare to believe what Kiyotaka was saying.

“Absolutely!” Kiyotaka confirmed… both verbally _and_ with a soft kiss on the lips…

Of course, with Mondo, he could never get away with just _one_ kiss, and he soon found his face being drawn upwards by those wonderful strong hands and…

“Don’t forget you guys have a room ta clean!” Yukimaru laughed from behind them… “And I wouldn’t bother trying to organise any gang meets over the weekend, boss… See ya _Monday,_ maybe…” He added, sounding like he was grimacing as he turned to leave.

“Uhh… hang on, wait a sec!” Mondo called out to him. “Uhh… So… You guys never challenged Taka for leadership?”

“Well… _I_ did right at the start…” Yukimaru admitted…

“So… ya didn’t bitch at the gang ta drive safely or anything?” Mondo asked, sounding anxious. “’Cause… that shit’s, like, _your_ thing! And I didn’t want ya ta change _that_ just ‘cause it woulda annoyed the gang…”

“I didn’t change that though!” Kiyotaka told him, why would Mondo think he _had?_ “I ensured everyone drove within the speed limit _and_ on the right side of the road for _every_ trip we made together!”

“And he even made us have designated drivers when we went drinking…” Yukimaru sighed.

“…And none of ya got pissed off with him?” Mondo asked.

“No… of _course_ that shit was annoying as hell!” Yukimaru laughed, “But…the gang didn’t mind so much, ‘cause he did shit like teach us cool fighting moves and talk cops into leaving us alone… kinda like… like _Daiya_ used to…” He finished, awkwardly.

“Err…” Kiyotaka was shocked by _that…_ He hadn’t realised Mondo’s gang had been comparing him to his _brother_ the whole time…

“… _Oh.”_ Mondo said, numbly, obviously upset.

“Not that we wouldn’t rather have _you! You’re_ the boss!” Yukimaru tried to cheer him up, “It just… it was a _change,_ y’know? Just… something a little different to make us appreciate you more now you’re _back!”_

“And I’m sure they think a lot less of me after I failed to stand up for them properly…” Kiyotaka added.

“I guess…” Mondo muttered, “But… y‘know… maybe if… if Taka’s got time…” He trailed off.

“What?” Kiyotaka urged him to continue…

“..Maybe you could come to the odd meeting… and have the odd night where you run things? Like teach fighting moves or summat…?” Mondo asked, scritching his fingers through Kiyotaka’s hair…

“Ah… yes! That sounds like fun! So long as I don’t have to get involved in any fights…” He unconsciously gripped Mondo a little tighter as he remembered the angry boy yelling at him. “Err… and also.. perhaps there’s something you could help _me_ with?”

“What?”

“Well… I must admit, I was impressed with the way you were getting people to tidy their own desks up before they left class…”

“Hah! Is that _all?_ Sure I can do that!” Mondo laughed, and kissed his forehead. “’Specially if it means the cleaning duty takes less time!”

“Indeed… and you still owe me one for one of _my_ shifts, remember!” Kiyotaka reminded him…

“Kyoudai… I’mma owe you a _months_ worth of ‘em once we’re done here tonight…” Mondo laughed.

“Oh… _right_ …” Kiyotaka groaned. He’d forgot about the mess around them. “To start with, we’ll need spirits to remove the ink from Hifumi’s table, there should be some in the store room, and pick up some bin bags for the rubbish on Chihiro’s table while you’re there…”

It would be a long evening… but the room would be back to its normal state by Monday!

“See you guys around!” Yukimaru grimaced…

…Kiyotaka just hoped the same would be true of Mondo’s gang…

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!   
> (And this was the 400th work in the Ishimondo relationship tag! Whoop!)


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